In This Issue..

• New WIRED Grant
• Biomedical Science High School grants
• Strategic Skills Initiative for manufacturing
• Indiana dropout issue resource
• February InContext
• IFILE Indiana Taxes

About this Newsletter

Welcome to the latest issue of Workforce Developments, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

This newsletter is designed to keep Indiana policy and opinion makers and other officials up to date on activities taking place in workforce development across the state. Please forward it to others you believe might find the content useful. If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, unsubscribe information is available at the bottom of this mailing.

Southwest Indiana to be WIRED

A grant of $5.1 million over three years has been awarded to the State of Indiana by the U.S. Department of Labor for a Southwest Indiana consortium to strengthen collaboration between workforce development and economic development organizations and invest in workforce development strategies.

The grant was awarded to the Southwest Indiana Go (SWIGO), a consortium which includes the Southwest Indiana Regional Workforce Board, Evansville Regional Business Committee, Inc., University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana, Vectren Corporation, Welborn Foundation, Vincennes University, Ivy Tech Community College, the City of Evansville and numerous other organizations active in the economic development of Southwest Indiana.

The grant, one of thirteen awarded last month, is through the Department of Labor's Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative, or WIRED. This is the second grant the state of Indiana has received under the WIRED initiative, which is designed to promote partnerships to transform and rebuild regional economies. Last February, North Central Indiana received a $15 million, three-year WIRED grant.

For more information on the national WIRED initiative, go here.

Sixteen high schools receive $400,000 to launch Biomedical Sciences programs

Sixteen Indiana high schools have each received grants of $25,000 to begin offering Biomedical Sciences programs to better prepare students for careers in the Life Sciences field.

"The life sciences industry is fast-growing in Indiana, and we want our Hoosier students well-prepared for these important jobs," said Governor Daniels.

Biomedical Sciences is a booming field and a critical part of the United States economy, employing over 15 million people in a wide range of occupations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 10 percent of the national workforce is employed in the health care industry. The Bureau projects that 3.6 million new healthcare jobs will be created by 2014. Eight of the twenty occupations projected to have the greatest job growth over the next ten years are in healthcare.

For the news release announcing this grant and the names of the high schools, go here.

New Strategic Skills Initiative grant opportunity for manufacturing sector

During last year's round of grants under the Strategic Skills Initiative, shortages in manufacturing occupations were found in 10 of the state's 11 economic regions. As a result, the department established a state action team to develop statewide solutions for the manufacturing industry.

In its deliberations over the last six months, the action team identified education & training and image & awareness as the two primary root causes associated with manufacturing occupation shortages.

In response, the state is soliciting proposals from the regional workforce boards that address solutions that include education & training and promotional components to help develop a pipeline of talent within the manufacturing sector. For more information, go here.

Resources on the Web: Indiana's High School Dropout Crisis

An excellent online resource on Indiana's high school dropout crisis has been developed and posted by the Indiana Commission on Higher Education. The resource contains a variety of presentation, reports, resources, news stories, and other information related to the high school dropout issue in Indiana. To access this, click here

February Issue of INContext

The February edition of InContext is now available. This month's issue includes stories on trends in personal income growth in Indiana, the state's new skill pathways guide, and the latest economic indicators and other labor market information.

The newsletter is a joint effort of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. For this month's issue, go here

IFILE

Indiana residents can now file their state taxes on line through I-File - the state's fast, friendly and free online individual income tax filing program.

The electronic tax filing system will speed processing and save the state money. According to the Department of Revenue, it costs about one dollar to process a paper return, but only about four cents to process an electronic return. To find out more, go here

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